Return on Intention

 ROI 16 - The Hire a Journalist episode: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Return On Intention Episode 16 – the Hire a Journalist episode

In this episode Daniel Lyons, programmer and all around smart guy talks with Reid Givens about:

• Clay Shirkey and Riddley Scott – getting more done with a lot of small contributions
• Community driven business models
• Reddit ask for money
• Pushing your agenda on your customer – intentionally or not
• the small business killer – expanding past the owner
• The siloing identity crisis
• The flat world and our R & D Crisis
• The small business innovation conundrum
• Commodity
• Business Centers – go to where the top is
• Where did the writers and journalists go? – web development
• The downside of democratized access to publishing – the noise to signal ration just went through the roof
• The new local celebrity – just change the definition of local
• The takeaways – pay attention and hire a journalist

Running Time: 56 minutes 52 seconds.

Comment email - comments {at} reidgivens {dot} com

 Return On Intention Episode 15 - The Fuzzy Episode [42:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Return On Intention Episode 15 – The Fuzzy Episode

A blast from the past joins us in this episode. Ramon Garcia (or Roman Gorca as he is sometimes known) joins me to talk about the importance of Mission, Vision, Values and some of the other “Fuzzy” topics in business. Ramon was heard on episode 1 – 10 of this podcast, and although this is only episode 15, there was a large gap between episode 10 and 11.

In this episode we discuss the virtues of the fuzzy side of business, and it effect on employees, management and customers. Listen to find out why it may be some of the most important parts of a successful organization.

Running Time: 42 minutes 24 seconds.

Comment email - comments {at} reidgivens {dot} com

 Return On Intention Episode 14 - Bad Ads and Dieing Facebooks part 3 of 3 [56:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Return On Intention Episode 14 – Bad Ads and Dieing Facebooks part 3 of 3

In this episode Daniel Lyons, programmer and all around smart guy talks with Reid Givens about:

Running Time: 56 minutes 52 seconds.

Comment email - comments {at} reidgivens {dot} com

 Return On Intention Episode 13 – Complacency part 2 of 3 [48:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Return On Intention Episode 13 – Complacency part 2 of 3

In this episode Daniel Lyons, programmer and all around smart guy talks with Reid Givens about:

• Complacency – its not just a technology problem
• Why do somethings win and somethings fail
• Free, Simple, Chance, Rumors and other means of competition
• How do your new customers pick you? It may not be Times are a changin’
• Does fast moving technology change who you should listen to?
• Who should be in the lead – digital shops or ad agencies?
• If everything changes every 2 years, who’s a master at anything?
• The new war online – splitting the groups and standards The circle of life on the web
• Where does the next big thing come from?
• Conversion rates and Ad supported revenue models
• iAds – overprices or reaching better customers
• The promise of social media – did we miss it?
• Facebook tried … and failed, but who’s fault was it?
• Pandora – algorithms, ads and revenueFunnels, permission marketing where the focus is
• Is advertising bad, or do we just do bad advertising?

Running Time: 48 minutes 46 seconds.

Comment email - comments {at} reidgivens {dot} com

 Return On Intention Episode 12 - HTML5 and Flash part 1 of 3 [56:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Return On Intention Episode 12 – HTML5 and Flash

In this episode Daniel Lyons, programmer and all around smart guy talks with Reid Givens about:

Running Time: 56 minutes 29 seconds.

Comment email - comments {at} reidgivens {dot} com

As more companies become familiar with the existence of social media and the success stories given at just about every conference held, it has become very common to hear “I would use Facebook / Twitter / Whatever, but I just never know what to say.” This problem was the cause for so many people posting “I like pickles” or “I had eggs for breakfast” on Twitter in the early days as they tried to figure out what to say. Often this lack of knowing what to post is a symptom of something bigger than understanding a new medium. Often its based on the organization not really understanding their uniqueness or their brand promise and how it fits into its customers lives. To put it another way, they don’t really understand where they fit into their market. If you make English Muffins, a product that hasn’t really changed in decades, what could you possibly have to post on Facebook? Plenty.

First – a little back story. I have this terrible habit of working late into the night… or morning… depending on how you look at it. After working past midnight a few times, getting up in the morning becomes a bit harder, so you sleep an extra hour to make up for the one that you worked through the night before. Now that you get up an hour later, you don’t get tired and go to bed when you used to and you have to wait an extra hour before you can go to sleep. Follow this path for a while and pretty soon you work until 3 or 4 in the morning and get up at 10:00.  This has been my life off and on for the past few years. This caused me to not eat breakfast anymore because after getting showered, dressed and ready for the day it was nearly lunch time. On days when I had meetings in the mornings and had to get up at a normal time I still couldn’t eat breakfast because it would make me feel ill, so I hadn’t had breakfast in years.

Recently I have been working to switch my waking hours back to a schedule that more closely resembles normal human times. Now, after being awake for a few hours, its breakfast time, not lunch time. This has presented me with the joy of breakfast food shopping and tasting, which has probably been way more fun than it really should have been. So now, after about a month of testing I have decided that English Muffins are better than bagels. Why? The nooks and crannies.

The crumb of an English Muffin are airy and full of little pockets that hold flavor. Every bite is a bit different as some of the little pockets are filled with butter, and others with raspberry jam. A bagel with cream cheese pretty much tastes the same in each bite, but an English Muffin is just a bit different. Bagels don’t have nooks and crannies. The crumb of a bagel is pretty smooth, which makes it more like most other breads. You can make interesting sandwiches with a bagel, but you can make all the same sandwiches with any other bread. The biggest difference between the English Muffin and just about all other breads you would eat for breakfast is the pocket filled crumb. This key differentiator not only makes the English Muffin a unique looking morning snack, but it also makes the taste and experience of the Muffin a unique one with the butter or jam that fills up the pockets. The point is that the English Muffin is not just about the English Muffin, but is part of my morning experience that works in concert with other factors to bring me satisfaction. When brands can stand back and see how their products and services fit into the bigger picture of their customers lives they can see how their unique features stretch beyond themselves and influence the user. With this data, the brand can start to see a bigger picture, and thats when the ideas for what kind of conversation to have with their market start to perk up like a pot of fresh coffee.